In the industrial manufacture of electronic components such as, for example, LCD displays or other flat screens or substrates etc., objects must be regularly transported and temporarily stored inside a factory. Provided for this purpose on the one hand are transport containers in which the objects are securely arranged and transported against external influences. Frequently, so-called SMIF and FOUP boxes are used as transport containers. On the other hand, the objects are temporarily stored in a storage apparatus, as described initially, after or before they are transported in the factory.
Such storage apparatus generally comprise a housing which forms one or more areas which are separate from one another. In order to transfer the objects into this at least one area or remove them therefrom, the storage apparatus has a closable opening. The objects are usually removed mechanically or manually from the transport containers before they are transferred into the area. For transport inside the factory the objects are then removed from the storage apparatus again and inserted outside the area into a transport container stored temporarily outside the storage apparatus. For reasons of maintaining the clean room conditions, an attempt is usually made to store the objects and the transport container separately from one another. In addition, the transport containers are expensive and bulky. If very many objects are used in a factory, the corresponding number of transport containers required is usually also very high.
However, other solutions have also become known in which the substrates can be supplied together with their transport containers to the storage apparatus and only removed from the respective transport containers inside the storage apparatus. Here it is provided after removal of the objects to store the transport container in a first area and the objects in a second area. The two areas are separated from one another by vertical dividing walls pertaining to the housing. However, this solution cannot be satisfactory in that it requires a relatively large floor area. A further disadvantage is the concept-dependent expensive supply of clean air for comparatively large areas.
A solution for a heat treatment apparatus for wafers is known from U.S. Pat. No. 5,407,181 in which a storage chamber for transport containers is separated by a vertical dividing wall from a transfer chamber of the heat treatment apparatus. In the transfer chamber located to the side of the storage chamber, wafers are inserted into a so-called boat with which the wafers are transferred to a reaction furnace located above the transfer chamber. This heat treatment apparatus also requires a comparatively large floor area. In addition, in this apparatus no temporary storage of wafers is possible but merely transfer of always the same number of wafers from transport containers into a reaction furnace.